In case the congressman of
Dagupan City is the then Pangasinan 5th District Rep. Mark
Cojuangco, we would not be seeing these arrays of stupid mini Berlin Walls cum
drainage systems that deface the already ugly city whenever it is submerged to
flooding like we are experiencing for several days already.
FLOOD shrouds the AB Fernandez Ave. in Dagupan City in July 30. Photo Credit: Batang Dagupan
When an overzealous Regional
Director of the Department of Public Works & Highway (DPWH) wanted to
elevate the MacArthur Highway in the stretches of the center of Urdaneta City (just
like what they have been doing unrestrained in Dagupan since time immemorial)
to shy-away the perennial flooding, Cojuangco and then Mayor Amadeo Perez, Jr. took
offense.
The duo, according to my source a retired regional director of a government agency and who asked for anonymity –
lobbied in Malacanang for the axing from his post of the beleaguered Director.
Through the ardent intercession
to the DPWH of Cojuangco, the public works initiated the construction of giant
drainage culverts in the two sides of the wide highway. Thereafter, flood on
that area became a thing of the past without resorting to elevation.
Photo is an internet grabbed.
If the cities of Urdaneta and
Navotas could solve their perennial “water world' (my play of words to that
famous 1995 action-science fiction flick’s Water World casted by Kevin Costner) problem without elevating their highways or roads that prejudice the ground
floors and the pockets of the residents and businessmen, why not the DPWH
Region-1 Director Ronnel Tan and DPWH District Engineer Edita Manuel of the
2nd District Engineering Office emulate them.
Presently, the DPWH and Dagupan
City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez are being assailed by people from various sectors
on the creation of that ugly drainage systems in Arellano Street and A.B
Fernandez Ave. East that cost the coffer by P46 million and those to be created in A.B
Fernandez Avenue up to Quintos Bridge, M.H del Pilar Street and Perez Boulevard
that cost the government P75 million.
City Councilor Irene Lim-Acosta criticized
the DPWH on the July 18, 2023 hearing of the lawmaking body when the city
government declared on March 1 this year the plan for a drainage system, new
flood gates and elevation of roads on its official Facebook Page. It was
titled: Brand New and Bigger Drainage System Coming Soon.
Suspicious about the absence of
public consultations with the affected sectors like those two universities in
Arellano Street, Councilor Celia Lim asked the public works department to
submit the complete plans of all the projects, details of the consultations
conducted and to be conducted, venues, time, names of attendees and minutes of
the meetings.
In case the officials of the DPWH were bereft of the requirments of public consultation, I exhort Manang Celia or any taxpayer to file a criminal and civil cases against them.
Photo credit: Batang Dagupan
Aside from the massive dredging of the heavily silted Sinocalan-Pantal River that I espoused on my past columns for 4th District Cong. Toff de Venecia
and DPWH D.E Manuel to vigorously lobby in Imperial Manila to mitigate if not
eliminate the flooding in the city, Businessman and Engineer Joseph Lo told the
Councilors of Dagupan on that same hearing that Navotas – that is besieged by
flood half of the year – solve the submersion of its city by using Vactron,
construction of a wall through sheet or steel piling and pumping floodwater into
the river after the rains.
If the cities of Urdaneta and
Navotas - I read used 39 pump machines - could solve the puzzle of flooding, why the officials of the DPWH in
Lingayen and San Fernando City, La Union and the officials of Dagupond City cannot do it?
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – In his
second State of the Municipality Address (SOMA) held recently here, Mayor
Leopoldo N. Bataoil cited the financial and material grants of the provincial
governor and the district’s congressman for the improvement of this coastal and
capital town.
NEW MUNICIPAL HALL
The Mayor mentioned the new three-storey modern designed Lingayen
Municipal Hall - as one of the packages - located near the Banaan Museum-Lingayen
Casa Real. He said it will occupy a 5,000 square meters’ lot with at least
3,500 square meters' building floor area to house both the executive and
legislative offices of the local government unit.
LINGAYEN
MAYOR Leopoldo N. Bataoil (left photO) during his July
27, 2023 State of the Municipality Address (SOMA) held at the legislative hall of the
capital town. Other in photos are Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III (top right) and
Pangasinan 2nd District Cong. Mark O. Cojuangco.
“Lingayen Government Center. The LGU Exec
and Legislative Corporate Complex will soon rise at a 5,000 sqm with initial
funding already allocated in the amount P20 million from Gov. RVG and P10
million from Cong. Mark Cojuangco,” he mentioned to the attendees in the Session Hall of the legislative
body during the rainy Friday’s SOMA.
The edifice he said is one of the inspiring plans and programs to the
town by Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III.
HOUSING
The Governor, the mayor disclosed, will push too for the construction of
decent homes that will benefit the informal settlers here. The site is at the
provincial property in Barangays Libsong and Tonton and at the Palaris areas.
MASTER PLAN
The master plan of Governor Guico to develop the town, Baywalk, Lingayen
Promenda, the iconic Limahong Bridge and other areas will boost tourism,
business and other economic opportunities.
“Flood control and storm surge protection.
The Dike along the Reclamation will be pursued as Lingayen Promenade, similar
to the other developed areas like the Iloilo Promenade, once filled with “home
along the river,” the
second term’s Mayor said.
Through the intercession of
Congressman Cojuangco in the national government, a storm surge protection
along critical areas of the Lingayen Baywalk will be constructed on “eye level”
to preserve the panoramic seascape of the gulf, with boardwalk to serve as
joggers/ walkers/ bikers lane.
AIRPORT AND BUSINESS CENTER
He disclosed that a study is
underway to construct an airport in the boundary of Lingayen and nearby towns
whereby proper orientation will be observed at flat land far from mountain
areas. The present old airport shall be transformed into a global standard
business center.
If it would be his way, the
mayor – in an interview with Northern
Watch Newspaper - wanted the present airport be phased out and converted to
a business park as what real estate giant’s Megaworld had done in the old
Iloilo City’s airport.
“Natuwa nga ako noong maglakbay
aral ang provincial government doon sa Iloilo mismo. They should be able to
appreciate what Iloilo did in Mandurriao Airport sinarado pero ang ganda na
ngayon. Ngayon, ang ni-relocate nila sa Cabatuan sa Iloilo the new international
airport. Malaking pondo rin iyon but malaki connection ni Governor Guico he
should be able to find for that purpose”.
ECO-PARK
Cojuangco collaborated the idea of Governor Guico to transform Barangay
Estanza here to a 184 hectares’ eco-park that would generate employment to the
residents of the towns of Binmaley, Labrador, Bugallon, Aguilar, Mangatarem and
Basista.
“Iyan iyong binabalak ni Governor na eco-park sa Barangay Estanza 184
hectares po iyon na e-developed,” the solon disclosed at a public
consultation in April this year.
He explained that buildings will be built in that village to host the
lucrative earning Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Call Centers to cater
with customers abroad.
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The governor of this gargantuan province in the
country projects grandeur with his looming two towers in the Capitol complex here that would house all
provincial workers, national government offices and corporations.
“You know kung titingnan mo ang
Kapitolyo andaming buildings spread all over the complex. Kung nagpatawag ka it
would take five to ten minutes pupunta doon babalik, so inefficient. Di ba
iyong time and motion? What if ilagay natin diyan andoon na ang lahat andoon na
rin ang national agencies? We will construct the Tower-2,” disclosed by Governor Ramon Guico, III.
Photo is internet grabbed.
The young Governor deplored how his predecessors built only bungalow type
offices and function houses like the training centers, those in the Girl Scout area and I.O.D.
“The province deserves more
than those types of building. We have to project grandeur. Ang laking province
sa Pangasinan tapos ang project natin ang li-liit, pichi-pichi. Hindi! Very
grand project talaga!”.
The imposing building that house the offices of the provincial public
officials and personnel is called Tower-1.
The American colonial - era Capitol building, he said, would not be
abandoned because he would repurpose it.
“It is a symbolic historical
building hindi natin e aabandon i-re-restore pa natin,” he told reporters in an interview at the
Capitol.
He cited the Tower-2 could be leased with big corporations whose clients
would have easy access with national offices occupying some areas of the
edifice.
“Andito na lahat e: RD, SSS, GSIS, SEC, DFA, PSA. E house na lahat diyan. Kung ikaw ang
malaking negosyo andiyan lang, o! Kung may problema ako sa application andiyan
lang. May problema ako sa labor andiyan ang DOLE. Kailangan ko magpapa (inaudible)
andiyan lang. So premium ito, saka may view ka ng bay”.
The Towers 1 and 2 will be funded by part of the loan the provincial
government contracted with the Land Bank of the Philippines.
“The Land Bank of the
Philippines, just like the tourists and investors who are now coming to our
province, know that they can trust the province of Pangasinan. Our omnibus loan
that amount to P6 billion will finance almost all our projects,” The Governor told his constituents in his
March 2023 State of the Province Address (SOPA) held at the Sison Auditorium
here.
The P6 billion loan from the LBP covers the various priority
projects of the nascent Guico Administration like the transportation terminals, seaports, health, education,
tourism development and urban township.
SAN FABIAN, Pangasinan – The U.S
$1 billion (PhP55 billion) mammoth infrastructure to be built by San Miguel
Corporation (SMC) would start its construction this month after the illegal
settlers in the vicinities of the projects have been compensated and relocated.
San Miguel Brewery in Malaga, southern Spain. Photo credit: Alamy.com
“Baka itong July na kasi na delay ng kaunti dahil doon sa nililipat e.
Ngayon nalipat na namin iyong mga squatters (galing sa malapit) sa dagat,” Vice
MayorConstante “Danny” Agbayani told
Northern Watch Newspaper.
He added that each of these households who
resided in Barangays Bolasi and Mabilao have been paid P450, 000 each by the
juggernaut Philippines conglomerate corporation’s SMC.
The payment for the squatters
include the cost of their demolished abode.
San Miguel Brewery, Inc. (SMB) –
an affiliate of the SMC – would be constructing a brewery in Barangays Bolasi
and Mabilao here – its second in northern Luzon. It broke ground on July 2019
attended bySMB
President Roberto Huang, officials of the SMB and the local government unit here
led by then Mayor Agbayani.
President Roberto N. Huang of San Miguel Brewery Inc. (left, photo) and San Fabian Vice Mayor Danny Agbayani.
Agbayani projected 2,000 to 3,000
workers will be needed by the brewery corporation when it starts its operation.
He said the presence of SMC in his first class town will see big companies
investing and relocating here as multiplier –effect.
The area, he added, has alluring beach, near the national highway and mountain areas but remains a “sleeping giant”
before SMC set foot here.
The project from the top Philippines' conglomerate here would not only settle for the brewery but is seen to usher for another commercial,
recreational and tourism facilities in the 100 –hectare area of the two
coastal villages.
With the P55 billion investment
by the SMC in this town, it would burgeon because of the revenue she would get
from the yearly business and real property taxes from the SMC.
Former Speaker Jose de Venecia
projected this coastal town to become a satellite city once SMC starts to
operate here, other giant projects like cement grinding plant, pier, jetty,
Petron tank and LPG farm, grain terminal, feed mill, and poultry
processing plant and abattoir - which will be the most state of the art in the Philippines - will be the next to be invested.
SMC is ranked 174 among 800 top
firms in the world according to Forbes Magazine.
Agbayani–a former chief
executive whose wife Marlyn is the present mayor here – said that the government here
is transparent to investors.
“The local government is open to
investors as long as they meet the requirements,” he said.
His administration did not ask
for grease money as quid pro quo from
businessmen for them to put shop here.
A friend in the southern island was awed that a Congressman was garb on
the almost P400, 000 barong sewed for him by a famous tailor in Manila. He used the expensive outfit for the second State of the Nation Address
(SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. last July 14. Many Congressmen and
Congresswomen try to outdo each other for sartorial elegance in the SONA as if
they're in the red carpet during the Oscar's Award in the U. S.
"Expected na iyan sa mga Tongressmen,
este, Congressmen kasi maraming silang pera sa S.O.P (euphemism of cut from the
more or less billion of pesos government project they each intercede every year
to the government departments like the public works and health) from the
Contractor," I told my
friend.
Even seasoned actresses looked like the assistant of a Congresswoman in a
party I attended years ago in Imperial Manila.
"Nagmukhang ukay-ukay ang mga
damit nila. Pati sa balat nag mukhang anak araw sila sa kulay ng balat ni
Ma'am," I commented how high maintenance was the solon.
Thanks to the cornucopia of wealth around.
CUT FOR THE SOLON
Here’s a private contractor
that would collaborate my thesis that congressmen and their favored contractors
rob the coffer that resulted to substandard services and infrastructures to the
government.
In a ten million pesos’
farm-to-market road he told me how the folks in the Pinoyland are fleeced into
this perennial malpractice.
“15 percent lang ang
tubo ko diyan. 15 percent bigay ko sa congressman, 5 percent sa DPWH
(Department of Public Works & Highway) bigwigs and the boys nila to divide,
and 10 percent kay mayor,” he enumerated.
He cited that before he wins the
bidding for the project at the DPWH, he first gets the nod of the other two
bidders – of course because of the imprimatur of the congressman their patron -
who would quote the first two highest bids to make the project so they would
lose while my source, who bids the lowest ten million projects, wins.
“I will give them P300
thousand to divide among themselves or to those other bidders who are
interested to the project”.
When I asked him how much he
shell-out to the village chief that will sign their approval of the completion
work, he told me he gives the “Kapitan” P5,000.
“Pag maganda ang mood ko at
humirit ang kapitan na bigyan din iyong mga kagawad (the nine members of the
village’s legislative council), binibigyan ko sila ng P10 thousand”.
To quantify how government funds
are pocketed, the narrations say: More than 45 percent goes to those
people I mentioned, while the Republic of the Philippines settles for the more
than 50 percent or more than P5 million of the P10 million farm-to-market road
from the taxpayers’ monies.
My other sources told me that in
other projects if the congressman or congresswoman is greedy, government
settles for the crumbs or the 40 percent while 60 percent of the funding is
divided by the solon and those other vultures.
This scenario of how the public
monies, be it P10 million or 100 million are swindled and gouged by these
knaves, my informant said, are endemic all over the Philippines.
OUR CONGRESSMEN ARE
BOTH KOREAN AND CANADIAN
Congressmen in the Philippines
are not only Korean but Canadian whenever they talk with contractors.
CONGRESSMAN: Magkano Korean sa
P20 million highway project na iyan?
CONTRACTOR: May P4 million Canadian,
Sir Congressman.
I was grateful with my contact at
the Philippines Information Agency when she gave me the phone number of a
petite Philippines Air Force’s Sergeant Maiden P. Crusit.Cruisit – a personnel of the Public Affairs
Office - added me to the PAF-Media Friends’ Viber’s chat group. On July 15, she messaged the members about the 11 a.m to 3 p.m July 17 affair at
the Haribon Hangar of Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga where aircraft
joining the Cope Thunder 23.2 fromBrig.
Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu would be arriving there.
American and Filipino military pilots (top photo
and clockwise) answer the questions of international and local print, broadcast
and television reporters on the second Cope Thunder 2023 held in Clark Air Base
in Pampanga last July 17. Another photo shows the author of this article raised
his hand to pose his queries to the pilots about the nuances of the exercises. Third
photo bares Filipino and American pilots in a huddle near one of the most
superior all-weather tactical fighter combat jets of the Americans. The F-22 is a single-seat, twin-engine supersonic stealth aircraft. Six of
them joined the Cope Thunder 23.2 military exercise with the Philippines Air
Force in Clark Air Base and Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City,
Cebu. The Raptor photo is an internet grabbed.
SECOND COPE
THUNDER 2023 OPENS
Before I delved on the event at the Haribon Hangar, recall that the second iteration of Cope
Thunder 2023 was officially opened by the Philippines and United States Air
Forces at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on July 7, 2023 and ended
on July 21, 2023.
It was participated by the aircraft
of the United States Air Force (USAF) like its C130 Hercules (3 of them), A-10 Warthog
(6) and F22 Raptors (6) and 585 personnel. The aircraft of the Philippine Air
Force (PAF) that joined there were C130 Hercules (1), HUEY II (1) A29B Super
Tucano (2), T129 ATAK Helicopter (2), FA-50 (3) and 687 personnel.
MEDIA INTERVIEWS
My eldest son Jigger and I were eager to see the vaunted Lockheed Martin’s F-22 –the air superiority multiple role single seater twin-engine stealth fighter jet - on that same day despite the heavy rains that barreled our wagon as it cruised the expressway from Rosales, Pangasinan with dispatch to Clark.
Philippines
Air Force Major Rod Calma of the Public Affairs Office introduces to
international and local reporters at the Haribon Hangar, Clark Air Base in
Pampanga, Philippines (from L-to R) PAF Pilot Major Ronholp S. Ausa (FA-50),
USAF Pilot Captain Liam Baldwin (A-10), PAF Pilot Major Virgilio K. Villanueva
(C-130), USAF Pilot Capt. Cole Wise (C-130-J) and PAF Pilot Capt. Philip
Vincent Roy R. Freire (FA-50).
During the media interviews held at the tarmac of Clark with
USAF's pilot Captain Liam Baldwin (A-10) and Capt. Cole Wise (C-130-J and
PAF pilots Major Ronholp S. Ausa (FA-50), Major Virgilio K. Villanueva (C-130) and
Capt. Philip Vincent Roy R. Freire (FA-50) - moderated by PAF Major Joseph Calma
(PMA Class 2011 and an Airbus C295 transport plane pilot) –, I posed my question
to the two Americans.
“Question to
the American pilots! How did you find the expertise of our Filipino pilots
compared to the U.S pilots flying the F-16, F-18, F-15 and others?”
Baldwin retorted: “We have the
same mission. We trained for air support, strike formation, reconnaissance, air
operation, maritime warfare. It’s all the same mission (inaudible) the same
mission implementation like the same sights and sounds. Being here exercising
in the Philippines with our partners have been super tight as what we actually
know. Our combined objectives in the region to be free and the Indo-Pacific
Region…"
GMA-7 TV
Male Reporter: How
did you find our pilots?!
Captain
Baldwin:They’re awesome!
Reporters milling the
interviewees chuckled.
This Writer: Awesome and handsome.
Capt.
Baldwin:I’m sorry?
This Writer: Awesome and handsome!
Reporters milling the
interviewees guffawed.
American and Filipino pilots returned in a drizzling July 17, 2023 to camp at Clark Air Base in Pampanga after their combat aerial exercises in Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu in the second Cope Thunder. Background is the lethal U.S A-10 Thunderbold-II (knownd too as Warthog or Tank Killer). PHOTO : Mortz C. Ortigoza
I asked the Filipino pilots if
the Korean Thales data link jibed with the data link of the U.S aircraft
especially during a conflict with the enemy.
“To the FA-50 jet fighter pilots. FA-50 uses the South Korean data link.
Does it jibe with the U.S aircraft’s data link?”
PAF Pilot Major Ronholp S. Ausa: "FA-50 currently uses the data link-16. It
is a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) standard data link and it is a
common data link for U.S forces".
DATA LINK
The question was the result of my
blog’s Criminal Liabilities
on the P15.5B WarshipsI wrote
several years ago when the Philippines bought one of the two brand new South
Korean made 107 meters long diesel powered 25 knots’ Incheon-class frigates and
when Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI) reneged on the contract to install a
Netherland’s Thales- Tactico’s combat management system (CMS). HHI later told
the Philippine Navy that it preferred to install the South Korean made Hanwha
Systems Naval Shield’s Combat Management System.
“The Korean “Link 16” is
unproven and could be vulnerable to Chinese electronic attack,” one of the
Naval experts on an online defense forum opined as excerpt of that news article
that saw print too in our newspaper..
AIR
INTERDICTION, MARITIME TARGET AND COMBAT MANUEVERS
Four USAF supersonic F-22 Raptors and subsonic four A-10 Thunderbolt –II (known too as the Warthog) and the four supersonic light attack and lead-in fighter trainer the South Korean made PAF FA-50 Golden Eagles had defensive counter-air (DCA) exercise in the Eastern Luzon skies in July 8, 2023.
The Filipino pilots came from the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron “Bulldogs” of the 5th Fighter Wing of the PAF and their counterpart Yanks of the F-22 Raptor hailed from the Hawaiian Raptors Squadron, which is made up of the 19th Fighter Squadron of the Pacific Air Forces' (PACAF) 15th Wing and 199th Fighter Squadron of the Hawaii Air National Guard 154th Wing.
The U.S and the Philippines
launched the air interdiction, maritime target (AIMT) and air combat
maneuvers (ACM) at the Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on July
12 to 15 where AIMT enhanced the pilots’ skills on tactical
air-to-surface/ground operations against enemy objectives and ACM, also known
as “dogfighting” enhanced the skills in air-to-air combat.
HOT
REFUELLING
In July 13, the
two countries launched the hot refueling operation at the General Santos City
Airport where the aircraft engines ran throughout the process, allowing the
aircraft to quickly return to its mission or flight. Known too as
"Hotpit" operations, they are beneficial in time-sensitive situations
where minimizing ground time is crucial.
SUCCESSFUL
AIR CAMPAIGN IN THE MILITARY AVIATION HISTORY
I could not forget how the
indispensability of “Hotpit thing” of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) almost decimated
the entire air assets of an enemy with a superior numbers of aircraft.
Operation Focus was one of the most successful airstrikes in modern history. Photo credit: IDF
When Egypt closed the Port of
Tiran in May 23, 1967, she stoked the casus
belli that prompted Tel Aviv to look for ways how to attack her big time.
The Israelis through the elements
of surprise flew at 7:45 a.m of June 5 the first wave of its IAF combat jets
through the Mediterranean Sea (the right side part of the front line of the
Egyptians in Sinai) and flying 35-50 feet above sea level to avoid Egyptian
radars’ cover and Soviet supplied SA-2 surface to air (SAM) missile batteries.
The first
attacked hit eleven bases, smoldering much of the Egyptian air force jets, planes
and helicopters on the ground and destroying them before they got airborne. The
IAF combat jets immediately returned to Israel for "quick-turned (refueled
and re-armed)” - and probably what the Americans and the Filipinos dubbed as hot refueling
or hot pit - in seven minutes thirty seconds and flew back for the second wave that
attacked fourteen Egyptian bases and returned with only minor losses. They
"quick-turned" again and departed in a third wave.
The opening stages of Operation
Focus of the IAF – one of the most successful air campaigns in history – son of
a gun saw Egypt's 452 combat destroyed in just a half day after that 7: 45 a.m
smart sneaked in the Mediterranean Sea. Those burining and ruined
precious assets were Soviet made Mig-17, Mig-19, Mig-21, Sukhoi Su-7, Tupolev
Tu-16 'Badgers, Ilyushin Il-28 'Beagles, Ilyushin Il-14 'Crates, Antonov An-12
'Cubs, Mil Mi-6 'Hooks, Mil Mi-4 'Hounds, British manufactured Hawker Hunters
and U.S made Douglas C-47 Sky trains. Most of them were destroyed on the ground
because of that treacherous attacked from the Jews who used a French/Israeli
made anti-runway rocket that created a small crate over a large new
sinkhole as initial salvo to prevent them to take off. The Israelis had
minor losses like the French made Mirage IIIs, Dassault H MD 450s, Fouga
CM-170 Magisters and Dassualt Super Mystere.
By the end of the first day of
the Six-day War, Israel had complete air superiority over Egypt, the West
Bank, Jordan, Golan Heights, Syria, and the entire Sinai Desert where
its planes even massacred to death the retreating thousands of Egyptian Army on
their trucks and tanks.
I first
heard of that feat - when I was in elementary grade in the middle of 1970s in
my war torn Cotabato town from my voracious reader air force-soldier father as
the Six Days War (known too as Third Arab–Israeli War) – where
the Israelis defeated the militaries of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon.
PAF DEFTNESS
VS LOCAL AND FOREIGN AGGRESSORS
With the Hot Pit tactics and others taught
by the Yanks to us, we hope our local air force pilots hone their skills to
prepare for any eventuality against local and foreign aggressors.
I prayed that our government
expedite the procurements of full pledged multiple fighter jets like the F-16
Vipers and other air assets so we have a modest defense of our country against any
bad guys who want to impose their weights on the Pinoyland.
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
During the media interviews by international and local reporters with the United States Air Force (USAF) A-10 Warthog pilot Captain Liam Baldwin and C-130-J Capt. Cole Wise and Philippine Air Force (PAF) FA-50 fighter pilots Major Ronholp S. Ausa, Major Virgilio K. Villanueva and Capt. Philip Vincent Roy R. Freire
(Alternate) - moderated by PAF Major Joseph Calma (PMA Class 2011 and an Airbus C295
transport plane pilot) – at the Haribon Hangar in Clark Air Base in Pampanga, I posed my question to the Americans.
CHINA FEARS THIS JET. Filipino and American pilots in a huddle near one of the most
superior all-weather tactical fighter combat jets of the Americans. The F-22 is a single-seat, twin-engine supersonic stealth aircraft. Six of
them joined the Cope Thunder 23.2 military exercise with the Philippines Air
Force in Clark Air Base and Brig. Gen. Benito Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City,
Cebu. The Raptor photo is an internet grabbed.
“Question to
the American pilots! How did you find the expertise of our Filipino pilots
compared to the American pilots flying the F-16, F-18, F-15 and others?”
Baldwin retorted: “We have the
same mission. We trained for air support, strike formation, reconnaissance, air
operation, maritime warfare. It’s all the same mission (inaudible) the same
mission implementation like the same sights and sounds. Being here exercising
in the Philippines with our partners have been super tight as what we actually
know. Our combined objectives in the region to be free and the Indo-Pacific
Region…"
GMA-7 TV Male Reporter: How did you find our pilots?!
Captain Baldwin:They’re awesome!
Reporters milling the
interviewees chuckled.
This Writer: Awesome and handsome.
Capt. Baldwin: I’m sorry?
This Writer: Awesome and handsome!
Reporters milling the
interviewees guffawed.
American and Filipino combat pilots return to camp at Clark Air Base in Pampanga after their aerial military exercise from Mactan Airbase under the second Cope Thunder 2023. Background is the lethal A-10 Thunderbolt -II low fliying jet. Known too as Tank Killer and Warthog. PHOTO: Mortz C. Ortigoza
I asked the Filipino pilots if
the Korean Thales data link jibed with the data link of the U.S aircraft
especially during a conflict with the enemy.
“To the FA-50 jet fighter pilots.
FA-50 uses the South Korean data link. Does it jibe with the U.S aircraft’s
data link?”
PAF Pilot Major Ronholp S. Ausa: "FA-50 currently uses the data link-16. It is a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization) standard data link and it is a common data link for U.S forces".
The question was the result of my
blog’s Criminal Liabilitieson the P15.5B WarshipsI wrote several years ago when the Philippines bought one of the two brand new South
Korean made 107 meters long diesel powered 25 knots’ Incheon-class frigates and
when Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI) reneged on the contract to install a
Netherland’s Thales- Tactico’s combat management system (CMS). HHI later told
the Philippine Navy that it preferred to install the South Korean made Hanwha
Systems Naval Shield’s Combat Management System.
“The Korean “Link 16” is
unproven and could be vulnerable to Chinese electronic attack,” one of the
Naval experts on an online defense forum opined as excerpt of that news article
that saw print too in our newspaper.
I’ll give you its illustration:
In case war between Mainland China and allied countries like the Philippines, Japan, and the United States break out, the function of the Netherlands’ Thales-Tacticos CMS is to guide the SSM-700K Haeseong (Sea Star) long-range anti-ship missile fired from one of the frigates to an eluding Chinese warship 200 kilometers away from its location in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
In case the Frigate’s radar envelop could no longer detect the absconding enemy warship, does it mean the U.S $2,347,500.00 (Won 2, 500,000, 000.00 Wikipedia) each cruising missile, likened to U.S made Harpoon, would just plunge to the sea for nothing?
The answer is in the negative if there is, say, a Japanese F-35B, a stealth supersonic jump jet, based on the helicopter carrier 248 meters long Izumo flying somewhere in the area that will cue and guide, thanks to the CMS, the SSM-700K to destroy the Chinese warship.
Thanks too to both the frigate and the U.S made short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B’s Tactical Data Link (TDL) 16 that connects with each other. War in the West Philippines Sea, in case it happened, would not only gory but efficient as the expensive explosive unleashed by the ship could hit its enemy.
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
